Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsGeneral Willcox Probably Never Knew Location Of Georgia-Florida Line
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
As much as The General (Mark Willcox) fought Indians around the Okefenokee Swamp, he probably never really knew where the Georgia-Florida boundary line was located.
We more or less take the "line" for granted today as we zoom past a sign saying "Welcome to Florida - The Sunshine State."
Boundaries, whether they be those of lands, counties, regions, or states, are interesting things. If you look at some of the boundaries of your own county, you will see that they probably changed (quite a few times) since it was originally created. For instance, Telfair County once contained portions of land from the Oconee to the Altamaha River. Rivers became one way of setting boundaries. Natural boundaries are sometimes the best kind. Sometimes they're not.
For instance, the Ocmulgee River is the northern boundary of Coffee County before entering Telfair. It is also the southern boundary of Telfair before entering Coffee. It wasn't always that way. In the early 1800's, "lower Telfair" included a large portion of land now contained within Coffee County. When there are rivers involved, boundary-making can become somewhat complicated. And that's what happened in the problem of the Georgia-Florida boundary line.
Way back in 1795, Spain and the United States hired two surveyors to confirm a boundary line they thought they pretty well agreed upon. By the way, this will be the last time we see the word "agreed" for awhile.
The line was based on what King George had decreed earlier (1763):
"For that part of Florida west of the Chattahoochee River - the 31st parallel; and
For that part of Florida east of the Chattahoochee River, a straight line from the junction of the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers to the source of the St. Mary's River, and thereafter along the course of the St. Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean."
That seemed simple enough. But then that's where those rivers came into the picture. General Willcox's memory of his experience at Breakfast Branch let him know that rivers might be boundaries but they could be crossed by the enemy. He knew that in some cases, boundaries didn't matter much.
The two surveyors, Andrew Ellicott for the US, and Stephen Minor for Spain, went all the way out to the Mississippi River "to shoot" the line. I suppose they did this because Georgia and Florida extended to the Mississippi during this time. We had a rather large state. With the bad experience of the Yazoo Land Fraud and some "bad boundaries," we later backed our state boundary to the west all the way back to the Chattahoochee River.
The two men did their work but when they got to the Chattahoochee they decided to travel by sea rather than land from the Chattahoochee to the St. Mary's. They did this because the Indians were becoming increasingly irritated by surveying parties doing funny little gyrations on their land. These hand waving and "sighting" movements of the surveyors with their instruments seemed to be inevitably followed by a large influx of permanent settlers. The Indians probably wondered at the time whether the waving and the coming of the settlers were cause and effect but it really didn't matter. All they knew was that a big group followed the small group. For this reason, woe be to any surveyor caught on the land!
Part of the line to be laid skirted the Okefenokee Swamp of Georgia. General Willcox was often warring with the Indians in this locale but he, like the Indians, probably never took up a lot of time trying to decide the location of the "line."
When Ellicott and his partner sailed up the St. Mary's River the job ahead (plotting the boundary line) seemed like a piece of cake. No problem. Not so. The river had three headwaters because it branched out into three "prongs." After some discussion they arrived at a decision as to where the line should be. They marked the area with a "mound" thereafter referred to as "Ellicott's Mound."
Subsequently, Georgia deeded its western lands to the United States with the provision that the Indians would be moved out there and that the Georgia lands could be granted to settlers coming into the state. This required that the state lands be surveyed so that land grants could be made. So, from the interest generated, the multi-branched St. Mary's River was questioned as being the correct basis for Ellicott's Mound.
Georgia appointed General Willcox's fort-building friend, General David Blackshear, and two more generals, to check out the boundary. They did so and reported that the location of the Ellicott Mound seemed to be in the right place. Strangely enough, this took place in 1818, the same year Mark Willcox was shot by Indians at Breakfast Branch. Willcox and others had gathered at Fort Adams (built by Blackshear). Unlike Ellicott's Mound - at the time he didn't seem to be in the right place at all. But, he survived.
Not satisfied, Georgia and Florida continued to hire surveyors and the line was moved around quite a bit. Georgia hired a man named Watson to survey the line. The "Watson line" gave a little more land to Georgia.
Not to be outdone, Florida hired a man named McNeil to do a survey.The "McNeil line" gave Florida a little more land.
Finally, after over a hundred years of "figging" the line north and south, the two states agreed on a line called the "Orr-Whitner line." What is funny about the whole thing is that Orr and Whitner reckoned the line within twenty-five feet of the original Ellicott Mound! But because the original instructions of Ellicott directed that the line be established a mile north of the Mound, numerous court cases had to be settled to allow settlers to take advantage of the land grants from the two states - Georgia and Florida.
The General might have enjoyed the mental calisthenics of that boundary business but the Creek and Seminole Indians had him busy with another kind of calisthenics - dodging their bullets and trying to find them in the hidden recesses of the Okefenokee Swamp and chasing them on down into Florida.
We find The General writing the Governor again:
"In the first place, I have all unpopularity of the Florida campaign to contend with, the scarcity of subsistence and forage, and the almost impossibility of drawing out the drafted men and arming them in that section where the people are in daily expectation of an attack from the Seminoles or Creek Indians. The near approach of the sickly season is another almost insurmountable obstacle to my carrying into effect your wishes. I will await your communication at Thomasville Thomas County. In the meantime, I shall make every effort in my power to carry into effect the wishes of your excellency."
Yep - generals get sick, too. And we'll tell more about that later.
Credits:
Ann Carswell for letters of and notes on Gen. Mark Willcox;
Willcox Family History by Martha Albertson;
Georgia-Florida Border article by Duke Vickrey;
Pioneer Days Along the Ocmulgee by Fussell Chalker;
info furnished by Chris Trowell;
info furnished by Gertrude Wilcox Williams and Diane Williams Rogers and others.
